Miami Hurricanes embarrassed by Duke, lose another ugly game to end regular season

The Duke Blue Devils entered Saturday’s regular-season home finale riding a five-game losing streak.

That was enough to ruin the Miami Hurricanes.

In another demoralizing performance, though at this point not a surprising one, Miami fell to Duke 27-17 in the driving rain at Wallace Wade Stadium to end the regular season.

Duke scored two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes of the game, its go-ahead score at 9:37 on a 2-yard run by Deon Jackson. The touchdown that sealed the victory came on a 49-yard pass from quarterback Quentin Harris to Jalon Calhoun with 6:55 left.

UM replaced struggling starting quarterback Jarren Williams, who was sacked seven times after injuries to two starting offensive linemen, with backup N’Kosi Perry, but to no avail. Williams finished by completing only 11 of 26 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown.

Perry, who came in with nine-and-a-half minutes left, was sacked twice and finished with two completions in nine attempts.

The bitter loss last week to neighboring FIU must not have been enough to jolt the Canes from what coach Manny Diaz previously described as a culture that “does not respect the opposition’’ when it perceives it to be inferior. But Diaz said after the loss that he was proud of their effort and their attitude Saturday.

“However,’’ Diaz said, “our issues are obvious. It’s simply our inability to execute that gave us no chance to win this football game. When you look at 13 completions out of 35 pass attempts, and throw in nine sacks on top of that, our passing game had no chance.

“Sometimes it just comes down to ball. You’ve just got to play football better than the other guys play football. ... We have deficiencies that gave us just about no chance to win this game.’’

Now, with a 6-6 record and 4-4 final mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Hurricanes positioned themselves for a possible losing season should they fall in the upcoming bowl game, yet to be announced.

The last time the Canes finished a season with a losing record was in 2014, when they went 6-7 and 3-5 and lost to South Carolina in the Duck Commander Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana. They could end up in that bowl again this season, or another low-profile game.

UM will officially learn its bowl destination on Sunday, Dec. 8, when the College Football Playoff committee reveals its final top-25 rankings and the post-season games fall into place.

Duke ended its season at 5-7 and 3-5.

UM had its second lowest offensive output of the season: 259 total yards (98 rushing and 161 passing). Defensively, the Canes gave up some big plays, including a 24-yard touchdown run on third-and-9, the final 49-yard dagger and a 42-yard run that preceded a field goal.

“I mean the margin of error on us — we hold ourselves to a standard real high on defense,’’ linebacker Michael Pinckney said. “Those...plays could have been the game. Regardless of what the offense did, we’ve got to hold ourselves accountable. Because a year ago, two years ago we wouldn’t give up those plays.’’

Canes tight end Will Mallory, who started alongside Brevin Jordan before Jordan reinjured his left ankle/foot on UM’s first offensive play, was a bright spot, garnering a career-high 93 receiving yards on 4 catches.

“Obviously we’re upset with the outcome,’’ Mallory said, “but I don’t think the atmosphere has changed. I think everyone is still confident in the team that we have and the individuals and the coaches and everything. It’s just a matter of getting back together and figuring it out and fixing the little things. I think everyone has 100 percent confidence and trust in what we’re doing. I firmly believe that, too.”

Junior defensive end Jon Garvin led the defense with 10 tackles, two sacks and 3 1/2 tackles for loss, while senior Pinckney added 10 tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. Redshirt freshman Greg Rousseau added two sacks (and 2 1/2 tackles for loss) and now has a team-leading 14.

“I know we did our best and I know the effort was there,’’ Garvin said.

The Hurricanes led 14-13 at halftime, taking a 7-3 lead just eight seconds into the second quarter on an 8-yard rush by tailback Cam’Ron Harris.

But Duke came right back to lead 10-7 with a 24-yard touchdown run by quarterback Harris to culminate a 7-play, 48-yard drive at 12:52 of the second quarter.

Duke’s AJ Reed hit his second field goal of the game, this time a 36-yarder after an initial 40-yarder, at 7:18 of the second quarter to increase Duke’s lead to 13-7.

But Miami redshirt sophomore Robert Burns had his career highlight to this point in scoring his first touchdown on a 15-yard screen pass from Williams. Miami led 14-13 with 2:26 left in the half.

After offensive linemen Navaughn Donaldson (left guard) and his replacement John Campbell were injured early in the game, UM’s offensive line crumbled. And Harris went down, too, leaving Burns to shoulder a massive workload on offense.

“There’s no doubt that that’s going to weaken you,’’ Diaz said of Donaldson’s right-knee injury late in the opening quarter and Campbell’s undisclosed leg injury late in the second quarter. “Duke gets into their odd package, which we knew was a problem. They do a lot of different movement and twists. They’re going to present a lot of problems other than just blocking the guys, assignment wise...

“You’re moving guys from guard to tackle. We were trying to get the best lineup we could in there. Our protection made it very difficult on our quarterbacks.”

The Canes added three points on a 27-yard field goal by Camden Price to make it 17-13 with 6:05 left in the third quarter.

UM coaches will now disperse for recruiting while players study for final exams. Fall semester classes end Tuesday and finals end Dec. 11.